Corruption in the British government under Walpole, and its opponents represented by Caleb D'Anvers: seven scenes. Engraving, 1731.

London and Westminster : Sold by the printsellers of London and Westminster, 1731.

1 print : engraving ; platemark 32.7 x 34 cm

Robins reign or seven's the main. Being an explanation of Caleb D'anvers's seven Egyptian hieroglyphicks prefixed to the seven volumes of the Craftsman. Iacta est alea. Briton's behold your constitution here ... and long as Cic'ro, let the Craftsman live.

[1] engraved title to the sheet: "Robin's reign", i.e. the "reign" of Sir Robert Walpole. [2] frontispiece to vol. 1 of The craftsman: a king taking a coronation oath, with reference to Magna Carta. [3] frontispiece to vol. 2: ... "a harlequin of state", Walpole as harlequin sells the nation to the devil. [4] frontispiece to vol. 3: "Hail typographic art": a compositor composing movable type in a composing stick to confound tyranny through freedom of the press. [5] frontispiece to vol. 4: scene of bribery involving a clergyman and three couriers with "RW" badges (Robert Walpole). [6] frontispiece to vol. 5: Walpole is shown subservient to Cardinal Fleury as he throws appeasing documents into a scale which are outweighed by French emblems of sovereignty and sea-power. [7] frontispiece to vol. 6: Walpole ascending to be offered a ducal coronet by Minerva. [8] frontispiece to vol. 7: Caleb D'Anvers being rewarded by Virtue for defending liberty

Caleb D'Anvers was a pseudonym used jointly by the contributors to the satirical periodical The craftsman: Nicholas Amhurst; Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke; and William Pulteney, Earl of Bath

M. Dorothy George, English political caricature: a study of opinion and propaganda, vol. 1, Oxford 1959, pp. 80-81

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. 2, London 1873, no. 1822, pp. 683-691

Wellcome Collection 576585i